GIRL SCOUTS THEIR WORKS, WAYS AND PLAYS "_Be Prepared_" [Illustration: Cover] [Illustration: Girl Scout Logo] GIRL SCOUTSIncorporatedNATIONAL HEADQUARTERS189 Lexington AvenueNew York City _Series No. 5_ GIRL SCOUTS MOTTO "_Be Prepared_" [Illustration: Girl Scout Logo] SLOGAN "_Do A Good Turn Daily_" PROMISE On My Honor, I Will Try: To do my duty to God and to my Country To help other people at all times To obey the Scout Laws LAWS I A Girl Scout's Honor is to be trusted. II A Girl Scout is loyal. III A Girl Scout's Duty is to be useful and to help others. IV A Girl Scout is a friend to all, and a sister to every other Girl Scout. V A Girl Scout is Courteous. VI A Girl Scout is a friend to Animals. VII A Girl Scout obeys Orders. VIII A Girl Scout is Cheerful. IX A Girl Scout is Thrifty. X A Girl Scout is Clean in Thought, Word and Deed. GIRL SCOUTS Their Works, Ways and Plays The Girl Scouts, a National organization, is open to any girl whoexpresses her desire to join and voluntarily accepts the Promise andthe Laws. The object of the Girl Scouts is to bring to all girls theopportunity for group experience, outdoor life, and to learn throughwork, but more by play, to serve their community. Patterned after theGirl Guides of England, the sister organization of the Boy Scouts, theGirl Scouts has developed a method of self-government and a variety ofactivities that appear to be well suited to the desires of the girlsas the 60, 000 registered Scouts and the 5, 000 new applicants eachmonth testify. Activities The activities of the Girl Scouts may be grouped under five headingscorresponding to five phases of women's life today: I. The Home-maker. II. The Producer. III. The Consumer. IV. The Citizen. V. The Human Being. I. _Woman's most ancient way of service--the home-maker, the nurse, and the mother. _ The program provides incentives for practicingwoman's world-old arts by requiring an elementary proficiency incooking, housekeeping, first aid, and the rules of healthful livingfor any Girl Scout passing beyond the Tenderfoot stage. Of the fortyodd subjects for which Proficiency Badges are given, more thanone-fourth are in subjects directly related to the services of womanin the home, as mother, nurse or homekeeper. Into this work so oftendistasteful because solitary is brought the sense of comradeship. Thisis effected partly by having much of the actual training done ingroups. Another element is the public recognition, and rewarding ofskill in this, woman's most elementary service to the world, usuallytaken for granted and ignored. The spirit of play infused into the simplest and most repetitious ofhousehold tasks banishes drudgery. "Give us, oh give us, " saysCarlyle, "a man who sings at his work. He will do more in the sametime, he will do it better, he will persevere longer. Wondrous is thestrength of cheerfulness; altogether past comprehension its power ofendurance. " II. _Woman, the producer. _ Handicrafts of many sorts enter into theprogram of the Girl Scouts. In camping girls must know how to set uptents, build lean-tos, and construct fire-places. They must also knowhow to make knots of various sorts to use for bandages, tying parcels, hitching, and so forth. Among the productive occupations in whichProficiency Badges are awarded are bee-keeping, dairying and generalfarming, gardening, weaving and needlework. III. _Woman, the consumer. _ One of the features in modern economicswhich is only beginning to be recognized is the fact that women formthe consuming public. There are very few purchases, even for men's ownuse, which women do not have a hand in selecting. Practically theentire burden of household buying in all departments falls on thewoman. In France this has long been recognized and the women of themiddle classes are the buying partners and bookkeepers in theirhusbands' business. In America the test of a good husband is that hebrings home his pay envelope unopened, a tacit recognition that themother controls spending. The Girl Scouts encourage thrifty habits andlearning economy of buying in all of its activities. One of the tenScout Laws is that "A Girl Scout is Thrifty. " IV. _Woman, the citizen. _ The basic organization of the Girl Scoutsinto the self-governing unit of a Patrol is in itself an excellentmeans of political training. Patrols and Troops conduct their ownmeetings and the Scouts learn the elements of parliamentary law. Working together in groups they realize the necessity for democraticdecisions. They also come to have community interests of an impersonalsort. This is perhaps the greatest single contribution of the Scoutstoward the training of girls for citizenship. Little boys playtogether and not only play together, but with men and boys of allages. The interest of baseball is not confined to any one age. Therules of the game are the same for all, and the smallest boy'sjudgment on the skill of the players may be as valid as that of theoldest fan. Girls have had in the past no such common interests. Theirgames have been either solitary or in very small groups in activitieslargely of a personal character. If women are to be effective inmodern political society, they must have from very earliest youthgregarious interests and occupations. V. _Woman, the human being. _ Political economy was for a long timeknown as the "dead science" and was quite ineffective socially. Thiswas largely because it attempted to split man, the human being, intotheoretical units such as "the producer, " or "the consumer. " In thesame way many organizations for women have died because they have notremembered that woman is first of all a human being. Thus nearly allinstitutions for women, even those supposedly purely educational incharacter, have existed to shelter her from the world, or to segregateher, or have been designed to make her into a good servant or to"finish" her for society. The activities of the Girl Scouts have beenselected on quite a different plan. They have not been designed forwomen as women, but for women as human beings. Real work may befollowed with a great deal of enjoyment provided it is creative andawakens the instinct of workmanship. But it is when at play that ahuman being realizes his own nature the most fully. So dancing, sportsof all kinds, hiking, camping, boating, athletics and story-tellingare encouraged not only as a means of recreation and for physicaldevelopment, but are made a basic part of the Girl Scout program. Methods The activities of the Girl Scouts are, of course, not peculiar to thisorganization. Every one of them is provided for elsewhere, in schools, clubs, and societies. But the way in which they are combined andco-ordinated about certain basic principles is peculiar to the GirlScouts. In the first place all these activities have a common motive which ispreparation for a fuller life for the individual, not only in herpersonal, but in her social relations. It is believed that the habitsformed and the concrete information acquired in these activities bothcontribute to the girls being ready to meet intelligently most of thesituations that are likely to arise in their later life. This conceptis expressed in the Girl Scouts Motto--"Be Prepared. " The method of preparation followed is that found in nature wherebyyoung animals and birds _play_ at doing all the things they will needto do well when they are grown and must feed and fend for themselvesand their babies. To play any game one must know the rules, so the Girl Scouts have Lawsthat they believe cover most of the needs of the Game of Life. The Girl Scouts Laws are ten: I A Girl Scout's Honor is to be trusted. II A Girl Scout is loyal. III A Girl Scout's Duty is to be useful and to help others. IV A Girl Scout is a friend to all, and a sister to every other Girl Scout. V A Girl Scout is Courteous. VI A Girl Scout is a friend to Animals. VII A Girl Scout obeys Orders. VIII A Girl Scout is Cheerful. IX A Girl Scout is Thrifty. X A Girl Scout is Clean in Thought, Word and Deed. These Laws are known by all Girl Scouts, but the _Promise_ to obeythem is made only after they are understood and voluntarily accepted. The Promise summarizes the Laws and is: On My Honor, I Will Try: To be true to God and my country To help others at all times To obey the Scout Laws The heart of the Laws is helpfulness and so the Scouts have a_Slogan_: Do a Good Turn Daily. By following this in letter and spirithelpfulness becomes second nature. Because the Girl Scouts are citizens they know and respect the meaningof the flag, and one of the first things they learn is the Pledge: I pledge allegiance to my flag, and to the republic for which itstands; one nation indivisible, with Liberty and Justice for all. _Organization and Drill. _ Some observers have criticized the GirlScout organization because of its apparent military character. It istrue that the girls wear a uniform of khaki, and are grouped inPatrols, corresponding to the "fours" in the Army; that they salute, and learn simple forms of drill and signalling. But the reason they dothis is because the military organization happens to be the oldestform of organization in the world, and it works. It is the best waymen have found of getting a number of persons to work together. Following directions given to a group is quite a different matter fromdoing something alone, and most of us need special training in this. Agroup of eight has been found to work the best because it is thelargest number that can be handled by a person just beginning to be aleader, and moreover elementary qualities of leadership seem to existin just about the proportion of one in eight. It is probably on thisaccount that children take so kindly to the form--rather than becauseof any glamor of the army, though this must be admitted as a factor. In actual practice the drill and signalling take up a very smallportion of the program, and are nowhere followed as ends inthemselves, but only as a means to an end. _The Uniform. _ The uniform is simple, durable and allows freedom ofaction. It is of khaki because this has been found to be the bestwearing fabric and color. It is not easily torn and does not readilysoil. Wearing it gives the girls a sense of belonging to a largergroup, such as it is hard to get in any other way. It keeps constantlybefore them the fact that they represent a community to whose lawsthey have voluntarily subscribed and whose honor they uphold. It iswell, too, to have an _impersonal_ costume if for no other reason thanto counteract the tendency of girls to concentrate upon their personalappearance. To have a neat, simple, useful garb is a novel experienceto many an over-dressed doll who has been taught to measure all worthby extravagance of appearance. Organization _Scouts of Different Ages. _ The original Girl Scout program wasdesigned mainly with the needs of the young adolescent in mind and theage was fixed from 10 to 18 years. But the little girls wanted to comein and so a separate division was made for them called the Brownies orJunior Scouts. Then the older girls and women wanted to join and astime went on the original Girl Scouts grew up, but not out of, theScout movement, and programs are being made for Senior Scouts who areeighteen and over. The three age groups seem to be natural ones andeach has its own methods and activities. The larger number of GirlScouts belong to the middle adolescent group. All Scouts are organized in the same way and all are enrolled with theNational Girl Scout organization. _Patrol. _ Eight girls form a Patrol which is the working unit. Theeight select from their own group a Patrol Leader who has charge ofthe activities for a month or any period of time the Patrol maydesignate. The Patrol Leader has immediate responsibilities for theactivities of the eight. It is desirable to have each girl of a Patrolserve as a leader at some time or other. _Troop. _ One or more Patrols constitute a Troop which is theadministrative unit recognized by the National organization. _Captain. _ The Troop is under the direction of a Captain who must beat least twenty-one years of age and whose qualification as a leaderof young girls is passed upon by National Headquarters before she iscommissioned. _Lieutenant. _ A Captain may have one or more Lieutenants. TheLieutenant must be at least eighteen years of age and her commissionis likewise subject to control by National Headquarters. Captains and Lieutenants may be organized into associations in anygiven locality. _Scout Classes. _ There are three classes of Girl Scouts, the youngestbeing the "Tenderfoot, " the name given by frontiersmen to the man fromthe city who is not hardened to the rough life out of doors. Even theTenderfoot, however, has to know _some_ things including the Promise, Laws, Slogan and Motto, how to salute, and the respect due to theflag, and making some useful knots. The "Second Class" Scout has been a Tenderfoot for at least one month, and can pass a test of distinctly greater difficulty, including a gooddeal about cooking and housekeeping, animals and birds, flowers andtrees, some important first aid things, and the laws of health. The highest is the "First Class" Scout and is to be attained only by ayoung person of considerable accomplishment. She must be able to findher way about city or country without any of the usual aids, usingonly the compass and her developed judgment of distance and direction. She must also be able to communicate and receive messages in twoways--by signalling in Semaphore and the General Service Codes whichis the code used for telegraphing and wireless, and which can be usedin several ways. She must have shown proficiency in Home Nursing, Child Care, and Housekeeping and in addition in either Laundering, Cooking, Needlework or Gardening. She must also be an all round outdoors person, familiar with camping, and able to lead in this, or be agood skater or a naturalist, or be able to swim. Not only must sheknow all these different things but she must also have trained aTenderfoot, and served her community. _Proficiency Badges. _ After a Girl Scout has attained to First Classthere are still other worlds to conquer as the badges she has earnedon the way are only a few of the many kinds still to be worked toward. There are at present no less than forty-six kinds of subjects in whicha Scout may achieve, and more are being added daily. Just to mention afew: a Girl Scout may be an Astronomer, a Bee keeper, a Dairy-maid, ora Dancer, an Electrician, a Geologist, a Horsewoman, an Interpreter, aMotorist or a Musician, a Scribe, a Swimmer or accomplished in Thrift. Each subject has its own badge and when earned this is sewn into theuniform. _Council. _ There may also be, and this is desirable, a Councilcomposed of women and men representing all the best interests of thecommunity: parents, schools, religious denominations of all sorts, business, producers, women's clubs, and other social and philanthropicorganizations. The Council acts as the link between the Girl Scoutsand the community. It has the same relation to the separate Troopsthat the school board has to the schools, that is; it guides anddecides upon policies and standards, interprets the Scouts to thecommunity and the community to the Scouts. It does not do theexecutive or teaching work--that belongs to the Captains, Lieutenantsand Patrol Leaders. Another of the functions of the Council is to interest public spiritedwomen and men, particularly artists and scientists in Girl Scout workand get them to act as referees in awarding Merit Badges forproficiency in the many lines encouraged for Girl Scouts. But the community's resources of wisdom are not only in the schoolsand museums, and laboratories and studios--these are mostly to befound only in large cities. It is a poor place that does not have oneor more wise old persons--a farmer learned in nature ways, a retiredsailor stocked with sea lore, or a mother of men who knows life asperhaps no one else can. The wise council will know where to findthese natural teachers and see that the children go to their schools. Another prime function of the Council is the raising of funds and tomake available such other material equipment as camp sites, meetingplaces for the Troops, etc. The Captain should turn to the Council forhelp in arranging and directing rallies, dances, fairs, pageants andother devices for entertainment or securing money. _National Organization. _ The central governing body of the Girl Scoutsis the National Council made up of elected delegates from all localgroups. The National Council works through an Executive Board, whichconducts National Headquarters in New York. The National Director isin charge of Headquarters and has direct administrative responsibilityfor the work of the whole organization with the general divisions ofField, Business, Publication and Education. "_Be Prepared_" [Illustration: Girl Scout Logo] Officers, National Headquarters Girl Scouts, Inc. _Honorary President_ MRS. WOODROW WILSON _President_ MRS. JULIETTE LOW _First Vice-President_ MRS. ARTHUR O. CHOATE _Second Vice-President_ MRS. HERBERT HOOVER _Treasurer_ DUNLEVY MILBANK _Chairman, Executive Board_ MRS. V. EVERIT MACY _Director_ MRS. JANE DEETER RIPPIN _Executive Board_ MRS. SELDEN BACON MRS. NICHOLAS F. BRADY MISS ELLEN M. CASSATT MRS. ARTHUR O. CHOATE MR. FRANCIS P. DODGE MISS EMMA R. HALL MRS. JULIETTE LOW MRS. V. EVERIT MACY MRS. SNOWDEN MARSHALL MRS. ROBERT G. MEAD MR. DUNLEVY MILBANK MISS LLEWELLYN PARSONS MRS. HAROLD I. PRATT MRS. THEODORE H. PRICE MRS. W. N. ROTHSCHILD DR. JAMES E. RUSSELL MRS. GEORGE W. STEVENS MRS. JAMES J. STORROW MRS. PERCY WILLIAMS [Illustration: Girl Scout Logo] +--------------------------------------------------------------+ | | | Transcriber's Note: | | | | Two variations of the Girl Scout Promise appear in the | | original text. Both wordings have been retained in this | | e-text. "Girl Scouts Motto" and "Girl Scouts Laws" have | | been retained without apostrophes, as in the original. | | | +--------------------------------------------------------------+